Meet Ladd McIntosh

Composer/bandleader Ladd McIntosh emerged in the 1960's with a shattering big band sound. Freely integrating exotic rhythms, non-traditional colors, pop and classical music references, and expanded rhythm sections, his bands explode with energy and swing yet they sound natural. McIntosh has never landed a favorable recording contract, but he has enjoyed his share of musical successes over the years including a groundbreaking record (Impulse A-9145) in 1967 with his Ohio State big band. As a legendary educator he has challenged his students with personal music that has stimulated them to excel, and he has won several awards at college jazz festivals. He is also a premier string writer. McIntosh's LA big band has recently released two CDs: Temptation , arrangements of classic popular songs and Ride the Night Beast , original music.

Ohio State University Big Band

I was at Ohio State for eleven years on and off. I started my own jazz band there in '63. I ran it for five years as a student. It wasn't a courseI just had to write music. There had been a group before us not sanctioned by the school of music. There was some bad feelings about that. We were sponsored by Phi Mu Alpha, a music honorary society, and we had a faculty advisor. The first band was like a "Maynard" [Ferguson] bandtwelve pieces, four saxophones. I wrote music all week long, and the band met every Sunday evening. There were times I'd drop out of school, but I kept the band. Then I started a second band, a feeder band to prepare players for the "Maynard" band. I wrote all the music for that, too. One of the saxophone players the first year was Richard Stoltzman, the great classical clarinetist. One thing that makes Dick attractive to classical audiences is that he improvises. In the fall of 1966 I went to a 20-piece band with a new (and different) library. We took first place and I won a best original composition award at the American College Music Festival in May, 1967. From the core of that band I created the more commercial "Ladd McIntosh and the Live New Breed" (13 pieces plus vocalist) in the fall of that year. The Live New Breed was the hit of Columbus, Ohio. It looked like we were really going to take off. It was right around the time of Blood, Sweat, and Tears. We played standards, jazz, and pop tunes. There was an agent in New York interested in us. At the time he was managing George Carlin, the comedian, and I guess he's still around. He set it up for us to play on the Johnny Carson Show which was still in New York, one week at Lennie's-on-the-Turnpike in Boston, another week at the Café ?u Go Go in New York, the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, and some other placesa five-week tour. We needed money to pay for the tour and new equipment, and we found a wealthy Columbus investor. He tried to turn the deal around so he could take control. The thing just fell through, and I was really disillusioned.

Las Vegas

I left Columbus in the fall of '68 and went to Las Vegas. I had a friend in the Harry James band who said he'd introduce me to everybody. I had to wait out my [union] card. There were thirteen hundred musicians in the union and nine hundred were working full time on the Strip. Every hotel had more than one band. I got in the show band at the Dunes, a 21-piece band. I played in it a couple of months, and I could not stand it. I was one of the tenor players, and there was a problem with the lead alto player. It wasn't worth staying even though it was the best money I'd ever made. Part of the frustration was that I wasn't writing. I had a familymy wife was pregnant with our third child. We literally left town under cover of darkness. I went back to Columbus and re-enrolled in graduate school. I had visited LA during my Las Vegas period and talked briefly with Stan Kenton who I knew. After I got my degree in 1970 Stan offered me a job in the saxophone section, but I didn't take it. It wasn't very appealing to be away from my family [on the road]. Stan loved my writing, but I don't think I would have gotten to write that much for him. Once I became a writer that was far more important than playing.